'We need to be more careful' when it comes to transgender conversion therapy, says health secretary

Sajid Javid's comments come as plans for a landmark global LGBT conference in the UK this summer are set to be cancelled after more than 100 groups pulled out following changes to plans to ban conversion therapy.

Sajid Javid has said "we need to be more careful" when it comes to conversion therapy for transgender people as he backed the government's position.

The health secretary said it is "absolutely right" conversion therapy is banned "for LGB people" but said a "more sensitive approach" needs to be taken when it comes to those who are transgender.

Last week, the government changed plans for banning conversion therapy - attempts to change an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity - that had first been set out in 2018 by then prime minister Theresa May.

Government changes plans for banning conversion therapy

But the government now plans to ban only gay conversion therapy, not trans conversion therapy - saying it would carry out further work to consider the issue.

"When it comes to conversion therapy, it is absolutely right, as the government has said, that we ban the so-called conversion therapy for LGB people," Mr Javid told Sky's Kay Burley.

"When it comes to trans. I do think that we need to be more careful."

Referencing a report by an experienced paediatrician, Dr Hilary Cass, he continued: "She just published an interim report just a few weeks ago and she talked about how the children and young people, when they say they have gender dysphoria, it is right for medical experts to be able to question that and to determine what the cause might be.

"Is it a genuine case of gender identity dysphoria or could it be that that individual is suffering from some child sex abuse, for example, or could it be linked to bullying?

"So I think it is right to take the approach that we have, which is to ban conversion therapy for LGB, but to take a much more sort of sensitive approach when it comes to trans."

UK LGBT conference set to be cancelled

Mr Javid's comments come as plans for a landmark global LGBT conference in the UK this summer are set to be cancelled after more than 100 groups pulled out following changes to plans to ban conversion therapy.

Organisations including Stonewall said they would no longer support the Safe To Be Me event due to take place in London following the decision to exclude transgender people from the ban.
The government admitted on Monday it meant the conference, due to be held in June and July, was now in doubt.

UK's LGBT+ champion resigns

The decision not to ban transgender conversion therapy prompted the UK's LGBT+ business champion Iain Anderson to resign, saying it was "profoundly shocking".

A government spokesperson said it was "considering how to proceed" over the conference.

Earlier this week, a Tory MP announced he is trans in a highly personal Twitter post.

Mr Wallis also rallied against ministers' plans to limit a ban on conversion therapy.

He tweeted to say it was "wrong to exclude protections for a whole group of people from a practice described as 'abhorrent'".

A national LGBT survey done by the government in 2017 suggested 5% of LGBT people have been offered conversion, and 2% have undergone the therapy.

These figures were higher among trans people, with 8% saying they had been offered the therapy, and 4% reporting having undergone it.